arrangements suggested, it would not, I believe, be
possible at a later date to interfere with them, even if all
restrictions were removed. When American readers were buying by
thousands a suitable edition, at a moderate price, of a work by a
standard English author who was himself receiving a good return from
his enlarged sales, this author would be as little likely, at the
expiration of the ten years, to restrict those sales by insisting that
his work should be sold here in the costly and unsuitable English
edition, as to stipulate that it should be sold here in a Russian
translation. It is probable, also, that the including in the measure
of these restrictions, even if but for a limited term of years, would
gain for it some support that would be important for its success. It
seems probable that, if the present conditions of trade are
maintained, American book-makers need not be especially troubled ten
years hence by the competition of books manufactured in England, and
that, if the various duties affecting the manufacture could be
abolished, we could well spare the duty on books themselves.

I can, however, imagine no state of affairs in which it would be
economical or desirable to insist upon two settings of type for a book
designed for different groups of English-speaking readers; and the
more generally this first and most important part of the cost of a
book can be economized by being divided between the two markets, the
greater the advantage in the end to author, public, and publisher.

A proposition will doubtless be made in the course of a year by the
British Government for the appointment of an International Commission
for a fresh consideration of the subject, and our government ought to
prepare for this International Commission by the early appointment of
a Home Commission to give due consideration to the several interests
involved in the question, to collect again the different sets of
opinions, and to harmonize these as far as practicable.

By the time our English friends are ready to talk the matter with us,
we ought to have informed ourselves definitely as to what kind of a
measure is on the whole most desirable, and how much of this it is at
this present time practicable to carry into effect.

There has undoubtedly during the past ten years been a growth of
enlightened public sentiment on the question, but I should still be
indisposed to entrust its settlement to the House of Representatives,
and sh